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INDIAN RIVER COUNTY, FLORIDA <br />INTER - OFFICE MEMORANDUM <br />TO: Jason E. Brown <br />County Administrator <br />THROUGH: Stan Boling, AICP <br />Community Development Director <br />FROM: Roland M. DeBlois, AICP <br />Chief, Environmental Planning <br />DATE: October 16, 2017 <br />RE: Approval of Cost -Share Agreement Renewal with the St. Johns River Water <br />Management District for Repair/ Plugging of Abandoned Artesian Wells <br />It is requested that the Board of County Commissioners formally consider the following information at <br />the Board's regular meeting of October 24, 2017. <br />DESCRIPTION AND CONDITIONS <br />From 1990 through 2009, Indian River County participated in a cost -share program with the St. Johns <br />River Water Management District (SJRWMD) to plug abandoned artesian wells countywide, including <br />wells on private property (subject to authorization from the private landowner). As a result of the <br />program, an estimated 395 wells were plugged or repaired in Indian River County, saving millions of <br />gallons per day of groundwater. The program was discontinued from fiscal years 2009/10 through <br />2014/15, however, due to a lack of funding as a result of the economic downturn at that time. In June <br />2015, the Board approved an agreement with SJRWMD that reactivated the program, at the previous <br />funding level of (up to) $20,000 per agency per year. Since reactivation of the program in 2015, twelve <br />flow wells have been plugged. <br />The 2015 agreement is now up for renewal. To that end, attached to this report for the Board's approval <br />consideration is a proposed three-year cost -share agreement renewal with the SJRWMD for <br />control]ing/plugging abandoned artesian wells. <br />ANALYSIS <br />The proposed contract agreement extends the well -plugging cost -share agreement for three fiscal years, <br />until September 30, 2020, with each agency (the County and SJRWMD) allocating $20,000 toward the <br />program each year contingent upon annual budget allocations. <br />Similar to past agreements, the agreement outlines responsibilities of the County and the District. The list <br />of responsibilities reflects the process that evolved during the years the cost -share program was <br />previously in effect. The agreement identifies environmental planning chief Roland DeBlois as the <br />County's project manager, responsible for coordinating the County's participation. <br />P68 <br />